Auburns Asa Martin moves to Redshirt - SB Nation

Auburn ran away Asa Martin announced on Saturday that he would be leaving the school after only one season with the Tigers. Martin, a true freshman in 2018, played in five games for Auburn this season. His fifth game is said to have taken place on 6 October against Mississippi State.

Martin's situation in 2018 was a bit weird, mainly because his coaches apparently accidentally burned his red shirt.

As AL.com, when Martin appeared in Auburn's game against MSU, he had already played four games for the Tigers. The NCAA has recently passed a rule that allows a true freshman to play in up to four games and still earn a red T-shirt.

AL.com spoke to Martin's mother, Sharay Harris, and she said she had told Auburn offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey before the game that the stakes against MSU would burn his red T-shirt year. There was a mistake in the school per site participation table, which did not indicate that Martin had appeared in a game against Arkansas on September 22:

Until Thursday afternoon, Martin was still not properly played in the team's online participation table as playing in the Arkansas game. It is unclear whether the participation error on the website in the weeks following the game on September 22 was considered true by the coaches.

Martin also appeared in mid-November in a game against Liberty. By that time, the redshirt was already burned.

Auburn coaches apparently had the impression that Martin had only played three games before the Mississippi State game, not four.

"After the game in Mississippi State, another assistant coach said he wanted to turn Asa around," Harris said in the paper. "At this point he had played five games."

"… I'm just blown away because Asa and I and his dad already knew that Asa's red t-shirt was already burned in the Mississippi State Game."

The new Redshirt rule has been widely regarded as positive when it's passed, as it can do many great things, such as keeping newcomers, taking some pressure off them by letting them play with lower stakes, and providing teams with more development opportunities. But a coaching staff who misused a redshirt by counting incorrectly was not an expected result.

Who gets Martin, gets back a talent.

Martin was a four-star project from Alabama in the 2018 class and the # 9, which ran back in class according to 247Sports Composite.